An official slightly off topic anouncement

[Albert E. Sten-Clanton]

I am indeed trying to learn Linux because of Microshaft and its non-free software buddies.  This partly arises from my notions of freedom, which indeed have been influence by the "free software" movement, as I understand it.  Derivative, perhaps, but also important in its own right, is the belief that, if I work long and hard enough, I can create the software I want, and need not settle for what's out there.

That said, I do not regard it as a virtue that using Linux may separate "the men from the boys."  In order for Linux or any other "free software" to do the job that Richard Stallman and his ilk have in mind, it will have to become friendly to the user whose love of technical knowledge analogizes to the difference between the temperature of liquid helium and absolute zero.  More precisely, there will have to be that choice, while propellerheads and propellerhead wannabees retain the option of doing all sorts of esoteric stuff.  My impression is that Fedora, Ubuntu, and sSuse are aiming somewhat in that direction, and there may be other variants.  For my part, I only wish this apparently increasing friendliness was at least optionally text-based:  I gather that, even with best efforts by Willie Walker and others, blind people still can make better use of the Windblows gui than any Linux gui.

Just my notions!

Al
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gregory Nowak" <greg at romuald.net.eu.org>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 12:50 PM
Subject: Re: An official slightly off topic anouncement


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> Some people seem to be misinterpreting my original comments. The point
> I was getting at, was that people were switching from windblows to
> gnu/linux because they got tired of microsoft, and all that goes along
> with that, and not because gnu/linux is easier to use then
> windblows. From a couple of messages I've seen on this list, some
> people seem to have taken easier, and substituted it with
> "better". Just because windows is easier to use, doesn't mean that
> it's better in my opinion. However, that is also just my opinion. As
> has been pointed out, the ability to effectively use gnu/linux
> separates the men from the boys. As we've also seen on this list in
> the past, more then once, some people after struggling with gnu/linux
> for a long while decide that windows is better for them, and that they
> would rather pay out to all the greedy corporations, and use
> windows exclusively. So, the question of which is better is a personal opinion,
> and I will not argue that point. Now, if the word superior had been
> introduced into this discussion, I would definitely argue that in
> favor of gnu/linux.  
> 
> As I've said though, I believe personally that gnu/linux is the better
> os, and if I have an option of doing something in either windows or
> gnu/linux with equal accessibility, I'll choose to do it in gnu/linux
> hands down.
> 
> Greg
> 
> 
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